He sighed. ‘Practice.’
‘You got it. Now don’t be an arsehole and eat the damned biscuit.’
‘Yes ma’am.’
He’d taken it as an order. I was fine with that. I grabbed a few more sweet treats to make a dent in the display so Laura wouldn’t feel bad, and then I made my way to Ji-ho’s office.
I was pleased to hear K-pop music playing from a few offices away. His neighbours might be less so, but it was a small step towards normalcy. I knew, without Ji-ho explaining, that he’d turned the music down yesterday so he couldn’t be approached unawares. Because of that, I knocked on the doorjamb loudly before walking in. ‘I come bearing gifts.’
Ji-ho had rearranged his desk so that his back was to the wall, and he was looking out at the entrance as he worked. The problem was that his massive set of monitors pretty much blocked his entire view of the door regardless of their position. He had shoved his wheely chair to the side so he could see who his guest was. He grinned when he saw the hard bikkies I carried on a small side plate. ‘Biscuits. Nice. Thanks Stacy.’
‘They’re Laura’s,’ I said in explanation and tacit warning.
‘Say no more,’ he replied and instantly dunked the brick-like thing into his steaming coffee. ‘You here to talk data?’
‘Always. Run it down for me. What did you find?’
‘Well, we’ve got a married couple, Barnaby Kerr and Angela Kerr.’ He pulled up their pictures. It was, surprisingly, beardy and the smart woman. I wouldnothave paired those two together. But it took all kinds, yin and yang and all that.
Ji-ho continued, ‘I knew they were married when I did my first intel scrub – it’s in the files I sent to SPEL – but I did more digging on the dude. Barnaby Kerr is the son of – wait for this – Barnaby Kerr. And the reason I thought you needed a heads up is that Barnaby Kerr Senior is currently jockeying for position as the wizard member of the Symposium. And by all accounts, he’s likely to secure it.’
I frowned. ‘I thought Stone was the wizard member of the Symposium.’
‘Oh, he is, but he’s been missing for long enough that they can start the process of removing him from officein absentiaand appointing someone else.’
‘And Kerr Senior wants to be that person?’
‘Yeah.’
I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘And his son is Anti-Crea.’
‘Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,’ Ji-ho said, voicing my fear aloud as he bobbed to the music.
I thought of my own father, who’d worn the same uniform I now wore. ‘No, it doesn’t. Thanks Ji-ho.’
‘Tread carefully, Shirlylock. When Senior hears you have Junior in interview, he’s going to pull strings.’
‘I’m no puppet,’ I shot back. ‘But I appreciate the heads up.’
‘The brass are going to be all over this,’ he warned me.
Channing popped his head around the door. ‘Oh, biscuits!’ He reached for a spare one still on the small side plate.
‘Laura’s,’ I explained.
His hand hesitated, but in the end he completed the grab. ‘Can I have a coffee?’ he asked Ji-ho.
‘Sure thing, C-man.’ Ji-ho slid out from his desk, fired up his coffee machine with all its bells and whistles and reached for a large mug that said ‘I masturbate to data’ and had a picture of an Excel spreadsheet.
‘Different cup, Ji-ho,’ I said drily. ‘We’re about to go into interview.’
‘Oh, right.’ He grinned. ‘I was just going for the biggest one, you know?’
‘Size isn’t everything,’ I murmured. Though I couldn’t help but think about Robbie in that moment, because it might not beeverythingbut it definitely made thingsreallyenjoyable.
Zero days celibate. I wondered if I should still bother to count?
Channing took a sip of his coffee, now in a plain blue mug, and then dunked his biscuit. ‘Ma’am? I came to find you because the interviewees have started to arrive.’
